Others' Mothers
by SylverEyes
Summary: The people who they needed most in their lives came... and it wasn't who they expected. [Zuko and Katara, but NOT Zutara] I suppose it could be Zutara foreshadowing if you squint... [T for one small section]


Another oneshot. I love these things. But I really needed to do this one, I actaully thought it was good. I also drew some art to go along with it, but it sucks. I bet someone else out there could do so much better. -hinthint- Well, you don't have to. I'm not even asking.

Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, there would be so much more supernatural stuff it in. It would be crazy.

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He was very young when she first came to him. He was lying in his bed, covers up to his chin, trying not to think about what Azula had just informed him of, and hoping to get to sleep soon.

She was a soft figure, eyes blue and as beautiful as the moon. Her brown hair was loose and floating around her head. She was smiling down at him from where she hovered above his bed.

A cool hand touched his forehead, and she murmured to him, "Sleep my little firebender. May Tui and La watch over you, and may your night be free of thoughts of your sister." The soothing, refreshing feeling of her hand calmed him, and his eyes fluttered shut.

---

The sun was just rising when the woman came to her. Around her glowed bright and fiercely, as though she was being flanked by the sun. Her golden eyes were hard in a motherly way, and she narrowed her eyes at the girl.

"Not planning on staying in bed again, are we? Agni's up and there's a lot to do, young waterbender, and you can't lie here while everyone else gets up and does your share of the work. Come on, up, up."

She brushed her fingertips across the girl's forehead, and it felt as though electricity crackled through her body, instantaneously waking her up. She lurched into a sitting position but the woman was gone.

---

"Stop it Azula! I don't like it when you say stuff like that!" he felt tears building up behind his eyes and tried to stop them from overflowing. He didn't want to look weak in front of his sister.

She grinned maliciously at him. "What? Is little Zuzu afraid of the truth? Afraid of what he's going to have to do when he gets older? I always knew that you were weak. Mom never taught you any different."

He felt his face grow hot with anger. "Don't talk about mom like that!" he yelled at her, hands balling into fists. But he knew that it was no use. All this shouting was going to get him nowhere. It had been proved a long time ago that Azula was a lot stronger and crueler than he.

The prince felt cool hands on his shoulders that calmed him down almost immediately. It was as though a veil had been thrown over his eyes, and he studied Azula through the watery visage, and was surprised at what he saw.

He didn't see a taunting girl who was called Azula. He saw a scared young child who was his sister, and desperately needed somebody with her right now, to make her feel better. It was shocking, but not enough to make him feel any sympathy for her. She deserved everything she got. It would be nice to watch Azula get some of what he felt every day from her.

And then the hands were gone, as though they had never been there, and Zuko again saw Azula sneering at him. "Did something go wrong in your head too? Why were you staring like that?"

He completely forgot the veil and the comforting weight of someone who was not his mother's hands on his shoulders. He was back to being Zuko again, and seethed at Azula's jeers.

---

She was trying to waterbend. She really was. It just wasn't working out for her. And it wasn't that she wasn't willing to give everything that she had into it. It was just _hard._ And she wanted to be able to do the cool stuff, not the boring basics.

But, still, none of it was working. So Katara took a break and watched Sokka trying to get used to the swing of his new boomerang. She giggled at his attempts that ended up with the weapon two feet in front of him, and outright laughed when he somehow ended up face down in a snowdrift.

Before she knew it, the young girl was landing with a thump on her backside, and a hot stinging patch on her cheek seared with heat that she didn't know was possible in the South Pole.

Looking up, again she saw the tall woman dressed in all red with strength and ferocity, but also kindness radiating from her. Right now, her eyes were narrowed and her hand was raised as though she was going to hit Katara again.

"He's your brother," she whispered in a no-nonsense voice. Katara swallowed a rebellious retaliation and watched the woman fade into nothing.

_I can't believe I was slapped!_

She stood up and packed a hard snowball. Once she was sure that it was ready, she lobbed it at her brother's back who stumbled forward with a cry when it hit him. He turned around to an evil grin from his sister.

It was completely fair by her standards that he was the one who got in trouble.

---

It had been a long time since he had last cried. A couple of years probably. But he was sitting on his bed and crying now. She was gone. His mother had left him in the middle of the night with nothing but a hurried message and a riddle as a goodbye.

No one knew where she was, and Zuko wasn't getting any answers. So he sat on his bed and sobbed, just letting the tears run down his face. The only person who had ever accepted and understood him was gone forever, and now he had no one to turn to.

A blue figure materialized in front of him. He scrambled back, surprised by her appearance. She looked so much more solid than she had all the other times that she had come to him, but still keeping the same softness around the edges. This time, however, he scooted away from her not wanting her right now. He wanted his real mother.

She put her hands on his shoulders, a familiar gesture by now, and Zuko looked away, ashamed for anyone to see him in such a broken down state. But she understood. In her large blue eyes, everything was said without words, and he was grateful to her.

"My poor Zuko… how have you survived so far? And so distant from everyone else too. With no one to rely on when things get hard. And no one to run to when you're scared in the middle of the night."

Her words awoke the sorrow that he had been trying to pack away, and fresh tears spilled onto his cheeks and dripped onto the crimson silken sheets that he pulled up around his shoulders to try and protect himself from an unseen enemy.

"It's okay." Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears too. "Tonight you don't need to be the one who's strong."

And that night Zuko cried with someone else's mother.

---

There was blood and bodies all around.

The scene was horrific. Bodies that were burnt so that only ashes remained were scattered everywhere. Limbs were completely torn off, and thrown around. Red liquid was oozing from wounds and seeping into the snow, staining it a sickening red. The moans of the wounded were all around her, pounding on her ears. One man had his torso completely ripped from his legs and was still moving, a silent scream escaping his mouth.

Katara stood with her hands up to her mouth and watched it all. She didn't even try to stop the tears for what she saw that surrounded her. She was so young, and already her innocence was being destroyed by the Fire Nation.

They had already left, just leaving behind the destruction and death that should have kept them awake at night.

Once she spotted the one woman who she was looking for, she was all eyes for her mother.

Her mother. The woman who had supported her and seen her through everything, and helped her when Sokka had been bullying her and making her feel awful. She was kind, sweet, and could instantly take control when she needed to. And now… she was gone. It just wasn't fair.

A breath of fresh air surrounded her and Katara closed her eyes, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" she repeated it as a mantra, not wanting to have her counselor come to her right now. Not when she was feeling so much hatred for the Fire Nation.

"Dear Katara…" she whispered kindly. The power of the sun grew stronger, and Katara felt herself leaning back into it. "You have suffered so much in just one night. And from my own nation too! If I could go back there and give them a piece of my mind…

"Let me comfort you Katara. You brother has your father, but who do you have now? I'll be here for tonight, because I know you need me."

Katara was still shaking her head and letting the tears make wet paths on her face when she felt warm arms envelope her. As soon as she felt this, sobs shook her body and she rocked back and forth, clenching and unclenching her fists.

Someone else's mother was the most comfort she had that night.

---

"I don't want to talk to you right now!" shouted and irritated teen, slamming his door as though that could stop her from entering and pestering him with what she wanted him to do.

Eyes as hard as ice chips watched him moodily stomp around his room and mutter to himself. "You know that what you did was wrong." She pointed out quietly.

It always irked him when she was right, so he blatantly lied to her, knowing full well that she would realize what he was doing. She always knew. Because mothers always knew. "It was not! I did what anyone whose honor was at stake would do."

She raised an eyebrow and stood up crossing the room quickly and silently, watching him begin to get nervous. "Would they really? Are you absolutely sure about that? I thought that you were better, little firebender."

He also hated it when she appealed to the child in him by calling him that nickname. "Yes I'm sure! And don't call me that!"

She didn't respond, just steadily kept eye contact with him, the eyes that showed the moon and the ocean and the entire world in them, and made him realize that he could be so much of a better person. Zuko didn't want that right now.

"Can't you just leave me alone!? I'm sick and tired of you following me around everywhere and preaching to me as though you know what's going on in my head." He glared at her, but saw that this had almost no affect.

"Go away. You're not my mother…" she managed through gritted teeth. It was a half lie. She was the closest thing that he had to a mother, now that his own was gone. But sometimes, he wished he had never met this lady.

Hurt flashed in the sapphire orbs and she turned away sadly, fading into the shadows and leaving an upsetting tension in the air behind her.

Zuko growled and flopped onto his bed, feeling like an awful person.

---

She stomped her foot and threw her sleeping back across the tent, knocking over some of her belongings along the way. A rumbling roar escaped her throat and she kicked the snow just outside of her home.

"Don't be like that, Katara." A voice scolded her from a calm standing position behind her. It was casual and almost carefree, but with a sharp edge that showed she meant business.

Katara's shoulders clenched and she turned around. "I did something good for him, and what did he do? Throw it back in my face without a thank you or anything! I do so much for Sokka, but he never does anything back!"

The sharp note in the red lady's voice intensified. "Now you know that that isn't true. Your brother does so much for the whole tribe and you refuse to appreciate him. Now you know what it feels like."

The waterbender yelled, "I don't want to look at people differently! I don't want to be a good person anymore! You know that Sokka should have said sorry, and I think that I'm going to tell someone about it!"

The woman leveled a molten gold gaze at her and said straight. "You're a brat Katara."

Katara mouthed like a Koi fish before regaining her voice. "I don't know what you're talking about. I deserve so much more than this, and I'm not getting it. I think I should enforce my rewards if they won't willingly be given to me."

The woman's voice rose steadily, and you could tell that she was losing her temper. "You are a selfish and unappreciative girl, and I'm sick of you acting like you are the center of the universe. There is nothing I hate more in this world than a child who will not listen to reason or act upon it. Think about that, waterbender!"

The teen's eyes grew wide and she was almost shaking with anger. "I wish my real mother was back. You're nothing more than a cruel woman who intrudes upon my life." She threw at her.

The mature woman gave Katara a hard look and promptly disappeared, leaving Katara to rage by herself.

---

The prince studied the petite girl before him with contempt. She was clearly from the Water Tribes. Her dark skin and blue eyes proved that right away. She was also glaring back at him with a look of utmost hate, and he felt obliged to return it.

They stood there for a long while, just looking at each other. Zuko was about to turn away without saying a word to her, just throwing her one last look that said she was unworthy of his time, when his _she _came again.

'This is not the time.' He told her silently, glaring at her and willing her to take a hint so that he would move away from this foreign person.

She gave him a look that sent daggers flying through his body. "You will meet this girl!" her normally soft voice was a roar in his ears, and he noticeably flinched.

Katara felt all her hatred bubbling up from her stomach and wanted to fly at this boy. He was acting like he was so much better than her, even though he was an honored guest here at the Fire Nation palace, and he was Fire Nation. His people had ruined her home and killed her mother. She should kill him right now.

The tall woman appeared right in front of her, blocking her view of the prince. If looks could kill, Katara would have melted with a glance. "You will show respect to another human being!" her harsh voice grated on her ears.

Still, the two said nothing to each other, eyeing the other dubiously and willing themselves to walk away from their mentors, but finding themselves unable to, no matter how much they wanted.

The mothers echoed each others words to the two different children, each having the same, yet completely different meaning.

"You will meet this child. You will show respect and not judge at all or stereotype them. You shall treat them like a human being would treat another, and you will not turn your back on them not matter how much you'd like to.

"I've helped you become who you are, but this is a final test. All that I've taught you, all that you've needed a mother to do have been done. Now you need to find out for yourself. Are you willing to bend down to a lower level? Are you willing to put your pride aside and meet this person face to face? Will you do this as I ask?

"Will you become the person who I've been striving to make you?"

The tension in the air was almost tangible. The two teens stood there, trying to move backwards but not moving, barely held there by the women's speeches. Their eyes, one pair of amber and gold, one pair of sapphire blue, bored holes in each other as they strained against their instinct and acting on advice.

The mother's stood beside them, Zuko's mother with Katara and Katara's mother next to Zuko.

They roared in their ears. "What will you do?"

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**Author's Notes:**

I hope you liked it. The ending is kind of awkward, but it's late, and I'm alright with it. It didn't come out exactly how I envisioned it, but that's alright. Always like constructive critisism.

Read and review please. Thank you. XD


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